K!!SiiH(l;!'::!!fi,i;;ii llli! 



■•;-;■■'::; V I 



il?liaiiifi^yii.iiii£ii;:i'!!^-"!^i'-: 



C$71 
.H647 

1903 




<*. 



-./ 




^v^. 










I. 






1^ <x> 




;> ^> ^ >P 


'^^- ' 






•■t' 












-x 






A 









v^ V 


■4 

4 




A 




^.\^ 


, O « , '^ 








-'^uiM-- 




" » ,y' 


"> 





















*1 '^^ 












:i\ ^-X Ay 



.^ -^. 









s 



NOTBS 



ON THE 



FAMILY OF JOHN HILL 



OF GUILFORD, CONN. 



By EDWIN A. HILL. 



[Ueprinted from Nkw-Eno. Historioai. anh fiENKAi.ooiCAi. Register, for July, 1903.] 



BOS T U N : 

PRESS OF DAVID CLAPP & SON. 

1903. 






NOTES ON THE FAMILY OF JOHN HILL OF 



GUILFORD, CONN. 



These notes are prompted by, and intended as a supplement to, Dr. 
Steiner's articles on Luke and John Hill, in the RectISTKU, ante, page 87. 

The late Benjamin S. Hill and tlie writtT, his son, were some years en- 
gaged in preparing a genealogy of the descendants of John^ Hill, and ihe 
M.S.* comprises several hundred pages, bringing the male lines down to a 
late period. 

Those interested in tliis family might like to know that Dr. Alvan 
Talcott's manuscript genealogies of Guilford families contain quite an ex- 
tended account of the descendants of John^ of Guilford. The original is 
in the libraiy of the New Haven Colony Historical Society at New Haven, 
Conn., and a coi^y is filed in the office of the town clerk of Guilford. 

Smith's History- of Guilford, page 20, states that "John Hill, by trade a 
carpenter, came from Northamptonshire, in England, as early as l(Jo4, 
and settled ujjou the north side of the green, on the jilace now [l^^T?] oc- 
cupied by P2. C. Bishop and Tabor Smith." Dr. Steiner, Rkgister, ante, 
page 87, says south side. In the Talcott MS. it is stated that he was by 
trade a carpenter, and came early to Guilford, but not in the first company ; 
that he was at Branford in 1G4G, but came with his family soon after to 
Guilford, tlie tradition being that the Hill family were '' Norih Britons." 
There is a tradition in the family of MichaoF (.James,- .Tohn'), that he was 
of Welsh descent. That the John Hill of Branford, in 1646, was John of 
Guilford seems questionable, in view of the fact that in Vol. 1, Part 2, 
page 71, of New Havi-n Probate Records will be found an " Inventor\ of 
the estate of .John Hill late of Branford deceascil taken by Moses Craft 
and John Fri.sbye," in 1678, while John of Guilford died there some years 
later. The latter does not ajipear in the list of (iuilford freemen of 16.")(», 
though Dr. Steiner states he was a freeman there before 1()57. On the 
14th of May, 16">5, however, John Hill and Goodwit'o Hill testified in court 
at Guilford. Of his English ancestry and date of birth nothing is known. 
The inventory of his estate, dated .lime l.'i, 168D, and taken by Thomas 
IVIacoke and Stephen Bradlye, is headed "The inventory of the estate of 
John Hill the aged, deceased," and amounted to £123. 00. 09. 

As his son .lolin was born in Hi44, and liis daughters Sarah and Eliza- 
beth may have been older than .John, he presumably must have been boiii 
before 1624, especially to have been called " the aged " at the time of his 
death. 

• The MS. concerning the descendants of John' Hill may at some future time be 
published, if there shoiibl be sulVicient interest to warrant it. In the nu-iiutiiiu', the 
writer will Ije glad to receive and to give any information. 







He was twice married : First to Frances , prior to his arrival 

at Guilford, and, accordini;- to Dr. Tnlcott, before his emigration ; and 
second to Katharine Chaiker. ''John Hill of Guilford ra. Katern Chalker 
23 September, JG73." (Records of Saybrook, Ct., iu Register, IV., 138.) 
Savage (II., 417) says she was "probably the widow of Alexamler 
Chalker," concerning whom Hinman, iu his " Early Puritan Settlers," 
page 517, remarks: ''Alexander Chalker was an early settler in Say- 
brook ; on page 96, vol. 1, at Saybrook, he m. Kathrine Post, Sept, 29, 1649, 
and had issue," among others, " 4. Catern, b. Sept. 8, 1657 ; m. John Hill, of 
GreenlieW [Guilford], 1673." If we follow Hinman, she was only sixteen 
years old when she became John Hill's second wife, at which time his 
eldest son was nearly thirty-three years old ; but Savage is most likely 
correcf. In 1670, John Hili is first styled " Sr." He died June 8, 1689. 
According to Savage, his will was made in September preceding his death, 
but my copy gives the date Sept. 28, 1680. It was proved June 17, 1689, 
and names his wife Katharine, his sons John and James, his daughter 
Tapping, and the children of his deceased daughters Sarah and Elizabeth, 
of whom Frances Allen was to receive a double portion. On the second 
Monday of June, 1695, the follomng record was made (New Haven County 
Court Records, I., 232) : " The legacies yet due out of y*^ estate of John 
Hill of Guilford deceased is 91b 20s which is to be distributed to 13 grand- 
children of the deceased the eldest of them viz. Frances Allen to have lib 
OS 5d as a doulde portion, and each of the rest to have 12s 20d as a single 
portion to every of them." 

The writer has a short manuscript genealogy, written Dec. 26, 1847, bv 
his grandfather, Julius® (Reuben,^ Reuben,'' Daniel,^ James," John^), of 
Madison, Conn., who was much interested in genealogy, in which he gives 
the children of the first John as: 1. John, born 1644. 2. James, born 
1646. 3. Ann, born 1648 ; died 1706. This Ann is perhaps the Hannah 
whom Dr. Steiner says was born Jan. 18, 1652-3, though it may be that 
there was both an Ann and a Hannah. Dr. Talcott, also, gives the dates 
1644 for John, and May 15, 1646, for James. The writer has the death 
date of John, Jr., as May 8, 1690, and of James as Oct. 8, 1707. 

Ann,- or Hannah, Hill {Jolui^) evidently married a Tapping. Savage, 
(IV., 254) mentions a James Tapping, of Milford, whose wife's name was 
Ann. She died in 1732. This James Tapping may have been the son, 
born Feb. 12, 1643, of Capt. Thomas Tapping (or Topping) of Wethersfield, 
Milford, and Branford, by his wife, Emma (Savage, IV., 255). 

Saraii'^ and Elizabeth'- Hill {Johii^) seem to have married and died 
before their father's will was made in 1680. One of them had married 

Allen, and had had a daughter Frances, who in 1695 was older than 

the other living children of these daughters. Henry Allen, of Milford, 
Conn., according to Savage (I., 31), had wife Sarah, who died in 1680, and 
a daughter Frances, born in 1676. Orcutt (History of Stratford, II., 1115) 
gives only John (not mentioned by Savage) and Frances — who married, 
in 1704, John Hall of Middletown, whose heirs in 1742 were Joseph Cor- 
nell and wife Elizabeth, Joseph Sage, Jr., and wife Mary, James "Ward and 
wife Abigail, and Samuel Stow and wife Mary, all of ]Middletown — as the 
children of Henry Allen, so it would appear that the four children named 
by Savage as born before Frances, 1676, died before John^ Hill's will was 
made. 



James'"' Hill (John^) had wife Sarah . whose surname is not 

given by Dr. Steiner. Dr. Talcott's MS. on the Griswold family states 
that Sarah, daujrhter of Michael Griswold of Wethersfieid, born Sept. 30, 

1662, marrietl Ilill. There seems to be no otht^r male member of 

the Guilford family of Hill havintj a wife Sarah, at a sufficiently early date, 
except him. The will, dated in 1678. of Michael Griswold, of Wethers- 
field, who died in 1684, refers to his daughter Surah Hill. James^ and 
Sarah Hill had children named Isaac and Michael ; and Michael Griswold, 
of Wethersfieid, and wife Ann had sons Michael and Isaac. 

With reference to the various lines of descendants traced by Smyth and 
Steiner, they agree in general quite closely with the writer's MS., except 
with an occasional difference in dates, and a child of .James' (John,-^ .lohn^), 
not given by them, viz., Lydia, born Sept. 9. 171.S ; also their Zenas,*son of 
Isaac' (James,'' John'), is Jonas in the writer's account. The baptism 
June 4, 1738, was of Jonas, not Zenas (see C'othren's Woodbury, III.. 1 16). 
The births of the children of Zenas and Keziah are correctly given (C'oth- 
ren's Woodbury, III., 55, 57, 59), but there is no known evidence to 
connect Zenas with Isaac,' and Zenas may prove to be a descendant of 
Luke HUl, for Ebenezer* Hill (Luke,- Luke^) had a son Zenas, born in 
Goshen, Conn., Jan. 4, 1730. It may be that Jonas* never married. 
Cothren (Woodbury, III., 565) gives his death as June 12, 1«02, aged 63. 









* o . o '^ ,0 



-? o 












« • 0, 



'^^, 



v>- 



V^ 



vV^^ 









o 









C- L/ 









. " O 



<* 



» ^9 -n^ ' "^ J' 









^ A 



^•^„s^^ 



,<:■ 






o 



\' s ' ' ■ ' C' ► ' • ° ' •• V ^ ' ' * ' 

.•''''^"\-. %/ •■■~'^^f- %,^' • -'^'• 






'»' >^ 



.0^ 



^A. 






< 



^ .N- 






V* 

< 






■.-. ■"■'o'' .r- -•- ■-op . 






y> 






V*^*^^ 

V <> 

^ 






A^ 






■t^. 



-v 



.G^ 



^". '^o 



,<i 






v^^ 









^0 
0* »!,•"' '> 



.^'' 



o 



^0 









^-^/r/-/^ 



•\ Pa. 



^ V 



.^ 



V* 



.^* 



\^ 



'^^' '^^ 



Vs. 



<=^ - C « 



o-S^ 



>->>. 



A 



<^ 



'^o y-^ 



.°-^^ 



^. 












0^ r. IV"- > 



^. 



t N O 









0^ .••'•* 



o 



^^ 



. V^ 



SEP 78 'tl 



'^ 










V 



C^ 



